Kathmandu: Karnali Province, one of the seven provinces of Nepal, decided to seal off the entire province starting from Monday mid-night for six days as neighbouring Province 5 reported rise in COVID-19 cases, a senior official of the provincial government said.

A day after 15 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Sunday in Banke district of Province 5, the Karnali provincial government decided to bar entry and exit of people and goods from and to the province, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

The federal government of Nepal has been enforcing a nationwide lockdown since March 24 but under the lockdown, movement of essential goods including medical items, food items, and fuel among others has been allowed.

Seven new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Nepalgunj, in addition to the 15 cases confirmed earlier this week.

With this the total number of coronavirus positive cases in the country have reached 82, 23 of them hailing from Nepalgunj. The new cases were confirmed after the test conducted today in Bheri Hospital laboratory, Nepalgunj, The Himalayan Times said.